new school, no preparat?on time, 15-20 very rowdy children between the ages of 2-6 who dont understand a lick of english and (wait for it) . . . no syllabus . . . does this sound familiar and if so any advice? thanks

haha. i'm glad to say that i've never been there. but give us some more details and i'm sure we can help you out.
for example:
1. are you the only teacher in the classroom? do you speak their language or have an assistant who speaks the native language?
2. what materials do you have to work with? flashcards? cd player? toys? art supplies? surely you're not in a completely empty room...
3. have you been given *any* guidelines as to what they should be learning?

i work in a turkish school and there are some basic topic guidelines and some worksheets and with my trusty laptop and publisher im managing.

my biggest challenge is that ive found that there is not a lot internet material out there for teaching pre readers (ie 2-6 year olds) english. most of the stuff is geared to native speakers and or older kids.
Whats your experience? are teachers always given course books? how much of your own material are you expected to produce?

when i started at this job, our curriculum was pretty much a long list of vocabulary words that the kids should know at different class levels along with some questions that they should be able to answer (e.g. "what's your name?" "how old are you?") we're working to improve that, but that's what i started with.

if i were you, i would start by teaching them ABCs, counting to 10, colors, animals, and food. with animals and food, hopefully there are a few that are the same in their native language. this will give them confidence.

i find that singing some sort of hello song lets the kids know that lesson is starting.

also, work on your basic classroom language. things like "let's sit down" and "clean up time". i suggest using the same phrase every time. young english learners may get confused if sometimes you say "clean up" and sometimes you say "tidy up", for example.

use a lot of songs in your classroom. this is a great way for kids to learn english. i'm having great success with devon's simple songs CDs. check out the website at http://www.supersimplesongs.com

mark at http://www.mes-english.com also has some great resources. his site is especially good if you need vocabulary cards and games to go with them.

Hi Annie13- I am also working at a preschool in Turkey and have a similar situation. I've posted you a PM. Please contact me if you feel like swapping ideas and experiences.

I've been learning what works and doesn't so I just wanted to share one great color game which was a winner!

You need two small baskets (bowels or buckets will do) and one large one and about 70 clothes pins of different colors (I borrowed from my neighbors).
Divide class into two teams (girls and boys if you like). Have each team form a line.
First student in each line gets a basket. You will face them a few paces away with the large basket full of pins at your feet. Say a color (hold up that color pin) tell them they need to collect as many of that color and then say Go!. The Ss will run to your basket and try to sort through and collect all of those colored pins (first round may need some help- but they will get the idea quickly). Give them 30 seconds or so, and say "times up." Put each team's pins aside in separate piles for counting up later.
Have the Ss give their empty basket to the next in line and repeat with a different color. Repeat until all colors are done. Make sure to plan ahead to give everyone a turn. End by counting together out loud each team's pins to see who is the winner.